In 2013, Loehmann failed a written test on problem solving, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and spelling for the Cuyahoga County sheriff's department. The year before, he had resigned from the Independence police department after five months following a poor performance review on his handling of firearms, which was not included in Loehmann's background check when he was hired by the Cleveland police department in March 2014.

He could not follow simple directions, could not communicate clear thoughts nor recollections, and his handgun performance was dismal. I do not believe time, nor training, will be able to change or correct the deficiencies.

On Nov. 22, 2014, Loehmann fatally shot Rice two seconds after arriving to investigate a call that someone was waving a gun around and pointing at people near a recreation center in west Cleveland. However, the emergency dispatcher did not tell Loehmann that the caller said that the person with the gun could be a minor or that the gun could be fake; it turned out that Rice was carrying a toy gun. Loehmann and Garmback were put on restricted duty while Cleveland sheriff's office investigated the shooting.

While it does come off as a cowardly move to fire Loehmann for a situation unrelated to Rice's death, after facing so much backlash for not taking action sooner, Loehmann's firing provides, at the very least, some semblance of justice for Rice's family.